GOLF: THE 2009 U.S. OPEN GAMBLING PREVIEW
The favorite for this year’s United States Open championship is – surprise, Tiger Woods at +125 but does that make him a lock to win this weekend’s prestigious major tournament?
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Tiger showed the world he is all the way back with his brilliant come from behind win at the Memorial. After not trusting his surgically repaired knee, Woods previously erratic driver nailed 49 of 56 fairways at Jack Nicklaus’ tournament.
Playing at Bethpage Black this weekend, Tiger will have to get off the tee or be incredibility accurate with long irons, hybrids and fairway woods.
Though Woods has had great success on public golf courses like Torrey Pines and Pebble Beach, he’s not a lock, despite playing well. This week’s wild card is hardly a longshot at +1000, but Phil Mickelson has many hats to wear this week.
Lefty was a tremendous crowd favorite here in 2002 and that doesn’t figure to change this year, especially with what has gone on with his wife Amy’s breast cancer diagnosis.
Though many golf pros don’t like Phil’s act, New Yorker’s embraced him immediately, consider it like a Mets and Yankees thing. Woods is like the Yankees, big and powerful and always lets you know who is in charge. Mickelson plays to the crowd and though the second best player in the world, he’ll always be in Tiger’s shadow, making him the classic underdog.
Will Mickelson have the patience to play 72 holes of golf under control, with what is swirling around in his head? The crowd will help, but it seems unlikely.
Padraig Harrington (+4000) won the last two major titles of 2008 and has worked to get better; however his swing adjustments have not panned out to date.
Angel Cabrera (+7500) won The Masters in overtime in April and is capable of putting up black numbers or shooting 79 twice to start The Open. Sergio Garcia (+4000) is playing with broken heart, having split up with Greg Norman’s daughter.
Players with the right game or playing well have to be strongly considered. Jim Furyk (+1500) is always a threat and tends to hang around the leaderboard at most majors with is steady play and is solid head to head wager.
Geoff Ogilvy (+2000) and Sean O’Hair (+4000) have the length needed and are stable personality-wise to go through the grind that is the U.S. Open. One player that sticks out is Paul Casey (+2500), three wins (two in Europe) this year and a batch of other top finishes.
Steve Stricker has played as consistently well as anyone on tour the last 18 months and the same no-name feel another Madison, WI. golfer by the name of Andy North had, being a two-time Open champion.
In looking over the head-to-head matchups, here are a few that will should be on your list:
Steve Stricker -220 over Adam Scott
Retief Goosen -105 over Sergio Garcia
Paul Casey -130 over Angel Cabrera
Vijay Singh -115 over Ernie Els
The U. S. Open is the sternest test in golf. If you like a player who is capable of being a “birdie machine”, save your money. This major is won by players who have the mental capacity to grind through 18 holes, four consecutive days.
The course is set up to ensure par is a good score on every hole. The rough was believed to be a little too long right off the fairway seven years ago and Mike Davis of the USGA, the person who sets up the Open courses, went to graduated levels of rough, too truly punish the player who hits it wide.
The greens will be lightning fast, though relatively flat. Professional players are used to seeing breaks and will sometimes “over-read” these greens, believing there is more break than it looks.
